MFL

Key Stage 3

All year 7s and 8s study French, following a scheme of work based on the Accès and Studio textbooks and on-line resources.

In year 7 students cover the themes of talking about themselves and others, family, where they live, school, leisure, holiday plans and daily routine. In year 8 they cover TV and cinema, a trip to Paris, personality, music, clothes, where they live and food and drink.

Year 9 students currently follow a CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) scheme of work, whereby language is taught via cross-curricular themes. Students study the topics of the Olympics, French art and youth culture/ holidays.

Students’ learning is regularly assessed via a programme of common assessments covering each of the four skill areas (listening, speaking, reading and writing).

In years 8 and 9, some students have the opportunity to study German as well as French. We follow a scheme of work based on the textbook Echo Express, which is specifically designed for second foreign language learners.

In year 8 students study units on talking about themselves, school, leisure and family. In year 9 they study units on holidays, shopping, food and drink, house and home and health.

Students’ learning is assessed via a programme of assessment tasks.

Key Stage 4

In years 10 and 11 students study French and/or German to GCSE. For both French and German the exam board is AQA.

At present students complete controlled assessments in speaking and writing, each of which is worth 30%, and terminal exams in listening and reading, each of which is worth 20%.
In year 10 students cover the topics of self, family and friends, leisure, holidays, home and local environment. In year 11 students cover school and future plans, health, illness and shopping.

From September 2016 the GCSE is changing to terminal exams, where the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing will continue to be assessed, but will be worth 25% each.

Whole school – every year we celebrate European Day of Languages. We run an inter-house “Spot the Teacher” competition, where ten members of staff very kindly wear badges for us (representing different aspects of European culture each year) and tutor groups have to identify the teachers and the badges they are wearing. The House with the most entries wins the European Day of Languages cup and the winning entries in each House win a tub of chocolates for their tutor group. Students answer the register in tutor time in a different language and we provide a tutor group quiz raising awareness of different languages and cultures. The canteen also supports us by making foods with a European theme.

Year 7 – At Christmas students celebrate Sankt Niklaus. They hear the story and try various German foods. There is a day trip to Boulogne, where students visit a bakery and try their hand at making croissants.

Year 8 – In January students celebrate la fête des rois. They hear the story and try various French foods. There is a five day trip to Paris, where students visit various sights including the Eiffel Tower and the highlight is a day in Disneyland.

Year 9 – There is the opportunity for students to train as Language Leaders and to teach junior school students in one of our feeder schools.